Among the many responsibilities Congress gave the FCC in the 1992 Cable Act, is a duty
to implement the program access provisions of Section 628 of the Communications Act. After
six years of experience with program access complaints we have decided that some changes are
needed to our program. The changes we implement today are intended to speed our handling of
these complaints and put some additional teeth into the program. I am pleased to support these
changes because I believe they are necessary and appropriate to implement the will of the
Congress.

I write separately to emphasize one point. We make clear in this item that we intend to
make greater use of our forfeiture authority to address program access violations. I believe that
this authority should be our first line of defense to curb program access abuses. Our authority to
impose such forfeitures is clear and, unlike damages, the imposition of a forfeiture does not
require a lengthy, resource intensive proceeding. Forfeitures are most likely to provide an
efficient and effective deterrent. If the amounts permitted under the forfeiture provisions prove
to be an inadequate deterrent to unlawful conduct, I would urge Congress to consider raising
those caps to more serious levels as needed. It is my hope that we will use our forfeiture
authority as our primary tool of enforcement and only resort to damages proceedings in the most
extreme of cases.